Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Another AWOL Document Dump

Man oh man, these "lost" Texas Air National Guard documents just keep popping up. Thing is, these aren't the documents that the AP filed suit over. All they are is BushCo countermeasures (military term for crap thrown up in the air to throw off a pursuer) that do nothing to resolve Bush's gap in service. In fact, these documents deepen the already obvious holes in his record.

The records show his last flight came on April 1972, which is consistent with his pay records that show Bush had a large lapse of duty between April and October of that year, a time he says he went to Alabama to work on an unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign. Bush skipped a required medical exam that cost his pilot's status in August 1972.

A six-month historical record of his 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, also turned over to the AP on Tuesday, shows some of the training Bush missed with his colleagues during that time.

Significantly, it showed the unit joined a "24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack" in the southern United State beginning on Oct. 6, 1972, a time when Bush did not report for duty, according to his pay records.

Bush's lone service in October came at another air base an Alabama, where he sought temporary permission to train away from his assigned squadron.

As part of the mission, the 147th kept two F-102a jets — the same Bush flew before he lost his flight status for skipping a required medical exam — on ready alert to be launched within five minutes warning.

Could this whole "after hours document dump" have anything to do with this tidbit coming up tomorrow night? Nah. That would be cynical of me.

Oh. And I emphasized a paragraph above. I don't know what the significance of his failure to report for duty in these circumstances might be. No doubt someone will be all over this tomorrow, explaining the import (and Scotty Boy will be spinning the lack of importance).